Pollen wasps and flowers in southern Africa

SANBI Biodiversity Series 18

Sandra Turck, Elizma Fouché

• Publisher: South African National Biodiversity Institute
• Year: 2010
• eBook ISBN:
  9781919976600
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

Pollen wasps are different to other wasps as, like bees, they provision their nests with pollen and nectar, rather than with hunted insects and spiders, as other wasps do. Western southern Africa is particularly rich in pollen wasps where they are important as flower pollinators, and they have interesting and close associations with the plants visited. This book covers world distribution, southern African distribution, morphology, taxonomy, life history (including behaviour), as well as associated organisms of these wasps and presently recognised species. The sections on behaviour include: flower visiting, water visiting, nesting, nest provisioning, sleeping and sheltering, and male behaviour. Details of the various 21 plant families visited are given, and there is a section on the impact of land use practices on pollen wasps. Colour photographs of the genera, flowers and vegetation types are provided, and line drawings depict the various nest types and distribution maps. This publication will interest entomologists, conservationists, ecologists, botanists, as well as amateurs wanting to know more about these insects.

Table of contents

• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Priscomasarina: Priscomasaris
• Masarina: Ceramius
• Masarina: Jugurtia
• Masarina: Masarina
• Masarina: Celonites
• Masarina: Quartinia
• Pollen wasps as flower visitors and potential pollinators
• Impact of land use practices onpollen wasps
• Appendix 1: Variations in familial classification of flowering plant families visited by pollen wasps in southern Africa
• Appendix 2: Records of flower visiting by pollen wasps in southern Africa
• Appendix 3: Flowers visited by pollen wasps in southern Africa
• Addendum: 12 new species of Quartinia described and published after the text had been finalised;11 species with flower-visiting records
• Index to scientific names of pollen wasps, other insects, and mites
• Index to scientific names of plants